Catch up on the biggest stories in Haddonfield this week.
Haddonfield now has a chess club for kids, and Butch Brees has been taking care of Haddy for more than 30 years now. Catch up on everything from the past week in the Weekly Roundup.
Chess-mates: chess matching kids together through newly-formed club
Sara Blackburn has created the Haddonfield Chess Club for Kids. Beginners ages 5 to 14 can learn the game at the Haddonfield Public Library on the second Saturday of every month from 10 to 11:30 a.m starting Oct. 14. Kids in the same age range who are already acquainted with the game can come play at Villa Rosa, a restaurant in Haddonfield, once a month on a Thursday night from 5 to 6:30 p.m. starting Thursday, Oct. 26. Blackburn said it’s about more than teaching kids the game. Her hope is the club helps foster friendships. She said her son William, who is autistic, thrived when playing chess because the game doesn’t involve much dialogue for players to communicate.
Haddy’s handler: the man behind the dinosaur
Many of Haddonfield’s residents know the story behind Haddonfield’s most famous — and inanimate — resident, but not as many may know the man taking care of Haddy. When it comes to keeping Haddy and the Hadrosaurus Park in spic-and-span shape, Butch Brees is the man. “I’m the treasurer of a committee of one,” Brees said with an effusive laugh. For more than 30 years, Brees has been taking care of the Haddonfield Dinosaur Commemorative Site located on Maple Avenue. Brees’ son, Christopher, created the monument in 1984 as his Eagle Scout project. Christopher was only 13 at the time and fascinated by the idea of figuring out where the Haddonfield dinosaur was found, Brees said.
A quiet man with a loud sound
Loren Lind has travelled the world to play music, but for more than four decades, the Philadelphia Orchestra was his home. A flutist with the organization for more than half of his life, the 72-year-old Lind spent years catching PATCO out of Haddonfield to head to the Academy of Music for rehearsals, but after 43 years, Lind gave his final performance with the orchestra this August.
